


Kitchen Beat

by miraclegarden



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comedy, Cooking, Fluff, M/M, attempt in cooking i mean, being funny, carnival date, kunten is domestic af, my attempt at, something went wrong but they had good intentions, sweet gesture, xiaocas is ehh you'll see
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 05:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19202683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraclegarden/pseuds/miraclegarden
Summary: Kun and Ten hadn't gone out on a date in a while and the younger members just so happened to have two Lotte World tickets freely laying around. AKA WayV decides to cook for their two eldest members, and hopefully, nothing goes wrong. (Previously titled: I see the mess)





	Kitchen Beat

**Author's Note:**

> For Ro and the kunten tag.

With the completion of their project Rainbow V, Kun and Ten finally got to breathe a little. Initially they planned on having a modest day off, starting with breakfast in bed, cuddling in bed, watching movies in bed; a day that eventually ended in also making out in bed (or more). So, they couldn’t help but be a little bit put off when Yangyang, Lucas, and Hendery lined up in front of their room so early in the morning, holding out two Lotte World tickets. 

Ten took the tickets from them. “What’s this?” 

“It’s two VIP passes to Lotte World,” Yangyang replied. “You and Kun have access to all the rides without ever waiting, and also get snack discounts for the whole day,” he said, emphasizing ‘whole day’ a bit too enthusiastically. 

“Yeah, I can read, but why?” Ten questioned the younger one. “This is weirdly sweet and all but we already—” He wanted to decline the offer (because a day in someone else’s private company sounded better in his head) but was intervened. 

“Oh, thank you, that’s so thoughtful of you guys.” Kun took the papers from his boyfriend’s hand and examined it carefully, before turning to give Ten a warm pleading look. “Come on Tennie, it’s been a while since we went out on an actual date.”

“But—” 

Kun cut him off with a small peck. “Please,” he added, as he latched onto his hand. 

Ten was quickly gave in at the sight of his boyfriend’s dimple. “Yeah, alright,” he said. 

Qian Kun had always been his weak spot. Despite his teasing tendencies and the constant nagging he got from him, the Tom and Jerry dynamic was only on a surface level. Because behind the camera, Kun would be there for Ten when he’d feel suffocated, giving him the encouragement he needed and making him the best home-cooked meals at 3 AM after getting back from practice. So it came to no surprise when he agreed for the happiness of the older one. 

Ten sighed, looking at their interlocked fingers and then back up at Kun. “Let’s go on this fishy date that was planned for us, that is not suspicious at all.” 

Kun laughed at his boyfriend’s sarcasm but shook his head. “Come on, you can’t always question everything they do.”

“Can’t question them? Those three? Do we even know the same people?” Ten doubted him. 

Instead of fueling his boyfriend’s antics, Kun gave him another kiss. “Love you, Qinqin.” 

Ten calmed down, and replied with the same sentiment, “me too.”

“I’ll go get ready then,” Kun said, smiling widely and heading back to their room. “Oh, let’s bring your camera,” he said excitedly.

“Yeah sure, babe,” Ten replied quickly, before turning back to the three boys with a suddenly darkened expression. “You better not cause anything, or do anything, and don’t even start whatever plans you already had planned.” Before any of the three could protest, he turned his back and shut the door in their faces. 

Lucas and Yangyang gulped at the shortest member sudden rise of temper and stayed silent, while Hendery laughed, “well, at least we did it.”

\---  

“WayV assemble,” Yangyang announced as soon as the two oldest members left the door, making all the members stand up (reluctantly) and circle around the dining the table. “So Wong Kunhang, what are our plans?” 

“We aim to cook a three-course meal, dessert and some kind of fancy fruit punch. The point of this mission is to prepare a feast for Kun-ge and Ten, as a thank you for leading us and also a proper debut celebration,” Hendery stepped in, hyping up the youngest dramatic antics. 

“So what food are we cooking then?” Xiaojun asked, bringing out their— Kun’s—set of freshly cleaned aprons from the lower cupboards and laying them down on the table. 

“Well… we didn’t play that far ahead.” Yangyang took one and passed the bundle to the rest.

“You expect us to do a three-course meal without even a plan,” Xiaojun sounded offended as ever, “and you guys probably don’t even have a backup plan.” 

“Backup plan?” Yangyang scoffed at his older friend’s claims. “Never heard of it, we’re gonna succeed in one go.”

“And YouTube is a great teacher,” Hendery shrugged, then patted his back before going back. “No worries.” 

“This is why Kun is always stressed…” Xiaojun felt a sudden wave of guilt, staring at the two members who had no hint of worry on their faces, who were now working on a ‘cooking playlist’ instead of the actual cooking prep. As he was about to scold them, again, he was stopped by Lucas’s arms that were suddenly over his shoulders. 

“There’s no need to worry, Junnie,” Lucas attempted to reassure him, which was returned with an eyebrow raise. “Okay, there is  _ something _ to worry about.”

“But it’s the thought that counts right?” Lucas told him, “they just really want to give back to Kun, and yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged them this much...” Both turned their heads to find Yangyang, Hendery and Sicheng dropping a bunch of vegetables onto the floor, “—but we’ll just have to make sure that nothing goes terribly.” 

“I guess.” It wasn’t that Xiaojun was a pessimistic person, but there was a reason why their leader never let them near boiling water. However, this was a thank you meal to Kun, which he deserved, and since Lucas let them do this, it shouldn’t go that bad, right?

“You alright there?” Lucas stopped his chain of thoughts. 

“Yeah, I am.”

“Come on, let’s stop them before they do any further damage.” Lucas took the apron that he was holding, and without any warning Xiaojun was engulfed by the other’s much bigger body. Not being able to take the sudden intimacy of their position, his head dipped down in an attempt to avoid any sort of eye contact, desperately trying to calm down his growing blush and not to overthink the heat that was left on his waist.  _ He was just putting on the apron for you Xiao Dejun, it’s not the time.  _

“Did you guys figure out what to do?” Lucas asked the other three members, 

“Not really,” Yangyang said, “Hendery and Sicheng-ge can’t agree on anything.”

They fell into silence.

“It’s impossible, we wasted so much time already,” Yangyang whined. 

“Hey, don’t give up now.” Lucas patted his back.

“You were the one that was the most hyped. Where did all that energy go?” Xiaojun teased him.

Sicheng rolled his eyes. “Yangyang has come to the realization that  _ maybe  _ a three-course meal is impossible for us.” 

“But one meal? Come on, we can do better than that,” Yangyang said.

“Well, the only one who can cook is Lucas,” Hendery put air quotes around the word  _ cook _ , “and that’s only ‘cause he was forced to learn the basics in his parents’ restaurant.”

“What he means, is that Lucas should at least know how to turn on a stove and not burn an egg,” Sicheng replied.

“We can just google easy meals to cook.” Lucas took out his phone and scrolled down through different recipes.

“I mean how hard can it be,” Sicheng said, taking out the different pots and utensils from the cabinets, “wait, what does this even do?” 

“I believe that's what we call a garlic press,” Lucas observed, and with that Xiaojun let out a sigh.

\---

It was the perfect weather for a day out, Ten hated to admit. It was still a bit chilly but the sun was shining as brightly as ever, warming them up in the right way. The sky was clear, with no sign of grey except the feeling of suspicion, which he managed to hold in for a while, in exchange for a couple of hours to bask in his boyfriend’s affection. Ten looked at Kun, who was also looking as content as ever, as he commented on how the park wasn’t as crowded as he thought, how the ice cream stand looked tempting and how adorable the children running around were—but as if it was on cue, Kun sneezes.

“Don’t tell me you’re catching a cold.” Ten, who was hugging the entirety of Kun’s arm as they were walking, stopped clinging and looked at him worriedly. “You need my scarf?” He didn’t let his boyfriend answer, and proceeded to take off the scarf he had around him. Before Ten could wrap it around, Kun stopped him.

“I don’t think so?” He lovingly caressed the shorter one’s hair. “Probably the kids talking behind my back again or doing something stupid, you know them.” He lifted his arms to let Ten hug him, while Kun rested his arm around his shoulder. 

“Don’t like the sound of that,” Ten paused for a bit, then added, “how dare they make fun of you without me.” He pouted and then let out a satisfied giggle.

“Wow, for a moment I thought you were gonna be on my side.” Kun feigned a hurt look and held his hand over his heart.

“I can’t always be nice to you or else my whole body system feels like it’s betraying itself.” Kun scoffed and pretended to sulk, only for him to be taken even less seriously judging by the sound of Ten’s laughter.

“What shall we do first?” Kun took out the folded map from his coat’s pocket.

“Whatever you want.” 

Kun gave him a quizzical look, “you sure, you usually make fun of my choices.”

“I probably will, but I don’t have anything in mind at the moment, so it’s up to you, babe.” Kun shrugged, “if you say so.”

It’s not that Ten didn’t have anything in mind, in fact, he had a lot of things on his mind, but the one priority on the list today was to make sure Kun was happy.

“This is actually nice.” Ten admired his surroundings, smiling at the carefree kids that passes by them, reading the sign boards of snack stands and taking shots of the mini rides or anything he found interesting (including Kun). “Still not trusting them, though.” 

Kun, enjoying the sun and how cute Ten’s tiny hand looked holding the DSLR camera, pondered for a minute before replying, “same here,” with a surprisingly carefree expression, which has been a rare occurrence these days.

“Then why did you agree to go?” Ten stopped walking, looked at the other’s eyes and raised an eyebrow at him.

Kun simply returned with a small smile, “cause I wanted to go on a cute date with the love of my life.” 

\---

Xiaojun half screamed at the crime his roommate committed. “Wait, why did you put the sauce in the water?” 

“To cook the sauce for the spaghetti, you idiot,” Yangyang answered, stirring the watered down tomato sauce.

“You’re supposed to boil the sauce!” Xiaojun pushed Yangyang to the side, took the spatula from his hand and turned off the stove.

“Yeah, in water, duh,” he said matter of factly, taking the box out of the garbage can and started to scan the back of it.

“No,” Xiaojun yelled into his hand.

“See, I don’t see that in the instructions.” Yangyang beamed at the older one while shoving the box into his face.

Xiaojun groaned and desperately looking around for help, which made Hendery took pity.

“I’m pretty sure Cooking Mama once told me to pour it all out, then boil the tomato sauce separately,” he attempted to ease the situation.

“I mean, it’s mixed in your stomach anyways, right?” Sicheng commented, while turning the pages of a cooking book Lucas found in, or more accurately stole from, Kun’s room. 

And just before he could have another breakdown, Lucas interrupted them with his reappearance, after volunteering to replace the eggs they had all used up unsuccessfully. “I got the biggest tray of eggs; can we try not destroy all of them?” Lucas laid them down on the kitchen table.

“Thanks, Xuxi.” Xiaojun opened up the tray and took three out. “Can you please help me with this batter?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lucas followed him behind to help him with the cream sauce they decided to make, for the simple mac and cheese recipe Sicheng had found. It was relatively easy; Lucas heated up the pot and added butter. Xiaojun, while holding his phone for the recipe, proceeded to add two tablespoons of flour. As he poured a cup of milk into pot, Lucas stirred, while the rest of the members looked at it in awe. 

“Can one of you please pass the cheese, instead of just staring,” Lucas laughed, as soon as he took his eyes off the pot. 

Yangyang brought them the bowl of cheese that Hendery had previously shredded. “How much you need?”

“The whole thing.” Xiaojun took the ladle from Lucas’s hand and told the youngest to come over to his side. “Just add them bit by—” before he could even finish his sentence, a stack of cheese was thrown into the pot.

“Oops,” Yangyang apologized and giggled at the mess he had just created.

The older one simply sighed and shook his head, not being the slightest hint of surprised by his friend’s antics. He went back to focusing on melting the hefty amount of cheese, making sure there were no chunks, when he was interrupted by a hand suddenly pulling his arm up.

“Oh shit,” Lucas hissed as he examined Xiaojun’s arm. 

“Lucas, that hurts, what’s wrong?” He drew his hand back, just now noticing the burn marks caused by the boiling-hot sauce that had splashed out from the pan beforehand. 

“Oh my god,” Yangyang exclaimed, as soon as he took a peek of the small commotion that had just happened. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, Yangyang, it doesn’t hurt in the slightest and I didn’t even notice ‘till Xuxi pointed it out,” he explained to him, in the hope it would ease his guilt, since it really wasn’t a big deal. 

Not everyone agreed, especially not the person who had gone back to holding his arm and grazing over the red marks that were now forming. “Sicheng, can you season it...and Hendery, please bring out the large pan to add in the pasta and Yangyang,” he stared down at the youngest of the bunch, “turn off the stove and you,” he turned around and took the ladle off his hand, placing on the counter, “bathroom, now.”

“Lucas, I really don’t see why you have to be so dramatic about this,” Xiaojun commented, feeling a bit frustrated at his friend, who was pushing him into the bathroom. 

“You were hurt and that matters,” Lucas replied as he turned on the faucet, then checked if the temperature was right, before taking hold of his hand to guide the arm, so that water soothed the burn marks. 

Xiaojun sighed (for the hundredth time today). “It really doesn’t matter, Xuxi,” he told him with the softest voice he could muster, because he couldn’t really get mad at the sight of his best friend worrying and taking care of him. 

“It matters to me, Junnie.” A reply that caught him in surprise, but Xiaojun just responded to him with a nod, deciding not to further ask about it, even though he was now feeling an odd sensation as Lucas applied the ointment—something that definitely was not from the cheese sauce.

They were dragged back into reality when both of them walked back into the kitchen, only to be greeted by the three members having a staring competition with the oven. 

“So I guess we turn the button all the way around?” Hendery looked at Yangyang, then to his right, Sicheng, then finally at the two who had arrived at the scene.

“Well, that made lights turn on, so we’re probably doing something right,” Sicheng said waiting for a confirmation from the rest. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Lucas answered after checking the food through the oven’s window.

“Now we wait?” Xiaojun asked.

“Yup,” Hendery chimed in, putting his arm around Xiaojun and Yangyang and navigated them to the living room, while Lucas went with Sicheng to clean up the stove area. 

“Hey Hendery, did you use the glass pan that Kun usually uses?” Lucas asked. 

“Mhm, I think so. It felt a little lighter than usual, but I think it was that one.” 

“Alright then,” he replied to him.

“Wait, isn’t this the glass pan?” Sicheng pointed at the opened shelf but realised the tall boy, who was next to him, had already joined the rest in the living room. “Did we use a tupperware then?” he spoke to himself, before dismissing his own thoughts and closing all the kitchen cabinets. 

“If this doesn’t go well, let’s go to KFC or something,” Xiaojun announced. 

“Why are you still so worried,” Lucas remarked, plopping down next to him on the sofa. “It’ll be fine,” he added. 

“And I don’t feel like KFC,” Sicheng stated, “I’ll probably make cup ramen again.”

“Oh come on, I’m determined this is gonna work,” Yangyang beamed at his older friends.

“Hope so.” Hendery just shrugged at the comment and went back to focusing on the game he was playing on his phone.

“But now that you say that, fried chicken doesn’t sound too bad,” Lucas mumbled and got lost in his own thoughts.

Suddenly the room was filled with beeping sounds and a distinctive burning smell.

\---

Ten felt a bad omen and suddenly shivered, “I have a bad feeling.” He stopped eating his corn dog. 

“It’s probably just your imagination,” Kun answered, mildly amused at the shorter one’s concern.

“I don’t know, something doesn’t feel right,” Ten become more quiet, “should I check up on them?”

Ten was about to pull out his phone but was stopped by sudden pair of soft lips, and was not the type to turn down a kiss initiated by Kun. 

A few minutes seemed to have already flown by, because when they finally pulled apart to catch their breath, passing by parents were coughing and giving them disapproving looks.

”Well that was nice but—” Ten wanted to add something more but got interrupted by an overexcited Kun telling him to hold his ice-cream. 

“Hey, where are you going,” Ten shouted at his running boyfriend. “Oh,” he let out after seeing the carnival game booth he stopped in front. “Mr Funzies Spectacular Ring Toss,” he read out loud, trying hard not to comment on how stupid the name was in front of the owner. 

“You know this was purposely made for people to lose and just splurge their money right?” He rolled his eyes at how his boyfriend gave the owner a bunch of coins for the hoops.

“Yeah I know, don’t be a spoilsport, this is just for fun,” Kun replied, tossing his first failed ring. “Goddammit,” he cursed, now looking more concentrated than before. 

Ten looked at the little boy next to them who looked like he was about to cry after what seemed like several failed attempts. “This is such a scam, look at that poor kid losing all his money.” 

“Cheer up, Tennie,” Kun said as he paid for another round, then looked up at Ten, giving him the best innocent smile he could master, dimples and all. Ten only could face palm and watch him play, again and again. 

“This is such a waste of money,” he told Kun. 

“Yeah, I know, but the thing is, at least I have money to spend around.”

Ten hated that he had a valid point, which led him to give up prompting Kun to stop and watched him silently during his (mostly) failed attempts. That was, until he got antsy from staying still. 

“Hey Kun, I’m going to take pictures over there okay?” The other nodded in reply and Ten tiptoed to peck him on the cheek, before running off to take pictures of the colorful booths that lined the area. 

Johnny would have loved this, and Renjun too, Ten thought as he zoomed into the LED lights that decorated the park. He took his phone to send a picture of it to their photography group chat, Neo Art-Hoe Culture. He missed them; he wondered how they were all doing from time to time. It had been a quite a while since he last met up with most of them—it was not like they weren’t constantly chatting, it just wasn’t as frequent anymore. 

Ten snapped out of his chain of thoughts and decided to trace back his steps to his boyfriend, while taking a couple more pictures on his way. From the stray cat he found roaming around, to the golden retriever whose owner was trying his best to catch up with it. To the crying babies, the plushies that were dusting inside the claw machines and the ring tossing stand, at which point Ten realised his boyfriend wasn’t there anymore. 

“Boo,” someone tickled his waist, making him jump.

“Goddammit Kun,” he cursed at him, trying to relieve his heart rate. “Don’t scare me like that.” 

Kun laughed and pinched his cheeks, “I couldn’t help it, you looked like a lost cat.”

He pouted in reply and said, “you told me you wanted to spend a whole day with me, but you spent almost an hour at that booth.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kun apologized and hugged him tightly, “but I couldn’t help it.” He picked up the black plastic bag that was placed on the floor and took out two big cat plushies, one black and one ginger. He handed the black one to Ten. “It looked like you, so I just had to, you know.” 

He scratched his head and Ten noticed the faint red growing on his cheeks. “You dumbass, don’t you know how weirdly competitive you get,” he replied in amazement at his boyfriend’s antics. 

“Yeah I know,” Kun lightly laughed, “but hey, it is really cute right?”

“I guess it is.” He looked down at the doll he was holding and petted it. 

“And the guy felt bad I spent a lot, so he gave me another one,” he held up the ginger cat plushie closer to the black one Ten was holding. “See, it’s a couple, like us.” He smiled widely at him, the kind of smile Ten couldn’t help but melt at. 

The kind of smile where his dimples got deeper, and his smile lines got more prominent. Then, as if the world’s beauty hadn’t already gotten captured, his eyes would turn into a pair of pretty crescent moons that would even captivate beings from far away galaxies. It was the kind of smile Ten wished his camera could capture at least half of its beauty. 

He faked a disappointing nod (directed at himself) and proceeded to playfully hit Kun with the plushie. “You big old sap, now look at the camera,” he instructed him. Ten held the plushie under his left arm, and picked up the camera that was hanging around his neck.

“You love me anyways,” Kun responded, sticking out his tongue.

“Yeah yeah, I guess I do,” Ten hummed and continued taking his pictures.

\---

Xiaojun had absolutely no more words to say; he was completely baffled by this current situation, but at the same time not one bit surprised. “Did we at least successfully make something?” he asked pleadingly.

“Sicheng and I kinda managed to make something that resembles a fruit salad,” Yangyang said, while the rest stared at the maknae in disbelief.

“Say that again, but slowly,” Hendery instructed him.

“We...made...a...fruit...salad,” Yangyang said slowly. “Oh, ohh,” he said in realisation, slowly turning his head towards the oldest at the scene. “Well… we can’t do much now.”

Sicheng face dropped, and Yangyang scrambled to add, “but I mean, I can call Taeyong hyung—wait, never mind, they’re in America now.” 

The whole dorm fell silent again.

“Not only will Ten murder us, but now he won’t even bother to bury us properly.” Yangyang grew a terrified expression as Hendery facepalmed, Xiaojun muttered something incoherent (probably a trail of curse words), and Lucas and Sicheng stared comically into space, not knowing what to do. 

All of them were so out of it, that none realised the door was unlocking.

“What the fuck, in mother heavens, happened here?” Kun cursed, looking down at the puddle of tomato sauce he had just stepped in. 

“The hell.” Ten, wearing matching cat headbands, also accidentally stepped in the red sauce.

“I thought you were going to have dinner out?” Hendery said with uneasiness.

“You literally texted me saying we should be home at dinner,” Ten said furiously.

Kun was quiet, looking around the room in disbelief. 

“Please tell me this is it,” Kun said, picking up the empty can of tomato sauce and onions that rolled across the room, on his way to the kitchen. Ten dropped his camera bag and jacket on the sofa before running to the kitchen after hearing a scream. 

“What happened to my oven!” Kun pointed at the burnt oven in indignation as soon as all the members gathered. 

“What the fuck,” Ten moved forward to analyze what exactly had happened and saw his boyfriend dropping to his knees, almost expressionless. “You alright there,” Ten asked, trying not to raise his voice as he patted his back. 

He knew they would come home to something of a mess, and even though this was expected, he still couldn’t help but get mad. 

After all, he really did just want to rest.

“I mean at least the dorm is not on fire,” Hendery attempted to lighten the mood.

“It could be worse,” Sicheng added.

Both of them said the wrong thing, because the minute they said that, Ten snapped and went ice cold. “You guys are the ones who said we both should go out and relax,” he yelled sarcastically, “this is definitely not—” 

He wanted to continue letting out his anger but got stopped by Kun. “Hey calm down, it’s alright, just breathe.”

Kun rubbed his back slowly, held his hand and made sure Ten has fully calmed down and collected, before signalling the group to leave of the kitchen and nodded to Lucas, who immediately got what his leader wanted him to do. 

“Okay, everyone, form a circle in the living room,” Lucas said, interrupting the eerie silence that had fallen in their dorm.

“Thanks Xuxi,” Kun said, dragging Ten with him as Lucas ushered the members to the living room.

“We all have a role and I’m comfortable cooking for you guys. Other than the fact you guys would have burned the whole apartment, I love taking care of you guys.” Kun paused and made eye contact with all of them. “Giving me a day off with Ten was enough; it is a sweet gesture, but I’d rather come home to the mess of leftovers from a takeaway, than to the oven completely burnt.” He laughed, looking back at the kitchen which helped lighten the mood.

“If you did want to help,” Ten interjected, “don’t do anything stupid.”

“Now, now,” Kun patted his boyfriend’s hand, “they are sorry.”

“I know,” Ten paused, “and I’m also sorry for taking out my stress on you — it’s been hard.” 

“We really are sorry,” Hendery said. Sicheng walked over and sat down at Ten’s side to hug him.

“It’s alright,” Ten said, finally cracking a smile, “I know I’m not the only one who is stressed and overwhelmed.” 

He looked over at Sicheng. “So I regret lashing out badly.”

“We’re doing fine, Tennie,” Sicheng told him, “you and all of us, we are doing amazing.”

“Exactly,” Lucas nodded enthusiastically.

“We know you guys were having a hard time, so we just wanted to do something. I’m sorry it turned out terribly,” Yangyang said, trying his best to sound sincere. 

“We understand, right Tennie?” 

Kun gave a reassuring smile at the youngest and did the same thing to Ten, to which the latter added, “yeah, we do.” 

Xiaojun let out a loud sigh of relief. “So, should we go out or should I call take out?”

“Let’s get that fried chicken we talked about,” Lucas said, “and why don’t only the two of us go?”

“Ex-excuse me?” Xiaojun stuttered.

“Come on.” Lucas smiled softly at Xiaojun and winked at the rest. He stood up, checked if he had his wallet and phone, went to take their coats and handed Xiaojun’s at him. “Come on, my treat.” 

“Wait, is that okay?” Xiaojun asked, looking at the two oldest.

“Come on, I’ll cook something quick for the rest of us.” Kun sighed at both of them, glancing at the clock—10:53 PM. “You better go now then, don’t go home too late,” he told them.

“Got it, leader,” Lucas said giddily, dragging Xiaojun to the door.

“Wait, what is going on,” Xiaojun asked, as Lucas gave him his shoes to put on. 

“Come on Jun, we don’t have all night.” He excitedly said with a puppy-like grin on his face.

Hendery and Yangyang are trying to hold in their laughter. “Guys!” Xiaojun shouted in attempt the two or anyone could explain the situation to him.

“Did you hear something?” Sicheng said, “I think my laptop is still on.” He glanced back at his room.

“I’m going clean up the mess.” Ten got up, ignoring Xiaojun’s confused call for help and picked up the cups left on the coffee table.

“We’ll hel—,” Hendery and Yangyang got interrupted again as Kun and Ten shouted “no!” in unison.

The two sulked as they walked back to their room. Sicheng, nodding his head, giggled and followed them (probably to play games on his phone through the night). 

Lucas finally got Xiaojun on his feet and dragged them out of the door.

In the end, the living room and kitchen were silent, leaving the two oldest alone.

“I’m sorry,” Ten said, breaking the silence as Kun put away the dirty dishes into the sink. 

“It’s all done now,” Kun replied, “I mean, it’s not like they burned down the whole dorm or anything.” 

“I wanted this day to just be for us, without any stress or problems.” Ten faced Kun’s back as he helped to pick up the forks and knives from the floor one by one.

“I know,” Kun hummed, nodding to the music that was being played (coming from Yangyang and Xiaojun’s room), and turned his back slightly to face Ten. “But we did for a while right?”

“It’s not that simple,” Ten took a deep breath in and out, “we had no break.”

“The stress from this ‘debut’ and upcoming official debut, the Rainbow V project, me learning Chinese and you having to lead us... I just wanted one perfect day for only us,” he finally let out. “In the end, you still have to cook for six disastrous people.”

“Five, babe,” Kun pulled Ten into a hug. “You’re not as disastrous,” he paused before adding, “sometimes annoying but since you are my boyfriend, I have no choice but to find it kinda cute.”

“Ew.” Ten giggled as he playfully tried to escape his hug, bur only to be gripped harder in return.

“And you should know, I love leading these kids and having this shorty besides me,” he ruffled Ten’s hair, “I know for sure, it’s always gonna be alright, you hear me?” Kun lowered his gaze to make eye contact with him. 

“I hear you,” Ten replied.

“And I know a great way to de-stress without actually stressing out on a planned day out.” Kun broke out of their embrace.

“What is it?” Ten questioned him, half startled by his sudden serious tone. Kun didn’t say a word and just looked at their bedroom. 

\---

“Why is it so quiet?” Yangyang peaked out of his room. “Ten? Kun? Where you guys?” 

“Oh shit, it’s still a mess.” He looked around, trying to find signs of movement —  _ are they  still mad at us, to leave us starving even, _ Yangyang thought,  _ nah can’t be, maybe they’re just tired,  _ and he walked to Kun and Ten’s room.

“Hey Kun-ge, what about dinner—” 

He was about to pull the handle, but stopped in his tracks when he heard something he wished he could erase forever.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is all Ro's (I guess mines too) idea and the product of our shared braincells that one Friday night, two months ago, in our Uni's couches. Thanks for sticking with me as I painfully write this (on and off) and going through it, love ya.


End file.
